A shopkeeper's Rustic Fruit Tart

Rustic fruit tart (recipe modified by me, found on the good food website)

360g of mixed berries
2 semi ripe pears, chopped
4 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp cornflour
Zest 1 orange

Recipe - Pastry

200g butter in a block, frozen
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
good pinch of salt
150 - 175ml cold water
4 tbsp granulated sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
1 egg white

The night before make sure to pop the butter in the freezer, wrap it in foil (this will keep it colder when you're holding it to grate later)

To make the pastry, mix the flour in a big bowl with a good pinch of salt and 2 of the tbsp of sugar. Using a coarse cheese grater, grate in the butter, trying to hold it as little as possible so that it doesn't warm up too much, and stirring it in with a cutlery knife as you go. Note:  make sure you don't grate the foil!!  When all the butter is in, give it a final good stir with the knife to make sure all the butter is coated, then quickly stir in 150 - 175ml of very cold water.  Lightly bring the pastry together with your hands, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.

Layer all the fruit in another bowl, sprinkling over the sugar and cornflour as you go.  Add the orange zest and give everything a light mix.  Set aside until your pastry is ready.

Heat oven to 180C, lightly dust a sheet of baking paper with flour and roll out the pastry into a rough circle until the pastry is around .5cm thick.  Give the fruit another mix, then pile into the middle of the pastry, leaving a 7 cm border of pastry.

Fold the pastry borders over the fruit filling, pinching bits together to keep it neat and together.  Whisk the egg white until very frothy. Using a pastry brush, brush the froth all over the pastry.  Dredge over the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar over the pastry and a little over the fruit.  Lift onto a baking tray and bake for 35 mins or until the pastry is golden brown and crispy.  Serve straight from the oven with lashings of custard or some cream.

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